Baghdad
Iraq plans to join the Gulf electricity grid in the second half of this year and start supplying electricity to Iraq in the summer of 2020.
Eng. Ahmed Al Ibrahim, Executive Chairman of the Gulf Electricity Interconnection Authority, said in a press statement that "the tenders for the electricity interconnection project with southern Iraq are being finalized for the second half of this year."
Ibrahim explained that "the Authority will begin coordination through the General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council for meetings with the Iraqi side to discuss the plan to implement the project work."
"It is hoped that if the agreement with the Iraqi side in May or June next, the Commission can provide Iraq with electricity capacity of up to 500 MW with the start of the summer of 2020."
He stressed that "the project of connecting with Iraq, which comes within the plan to expand the network of the Gulf electrical link, which is implemented by the Commission in the second half of this year, is a vital and strategic project for the GCC countries, especially that there is a diligent work to develop partnership relations between the GCC countries and Iraq in the areas Economic, political and cultural. "
He pointed out that "the Commission supports these trends through the project of electric linkage with Iraq, so the Commission works on the project in southern Iraq, specifically Basra, which is an extension of the current electrical connection," asserting that "there will be a link from the station in Kuwait to an extension to southern Iraq capacity 400 kV, and the capacity to 1800 MW, which will be reached through ongoing negotiations between the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Ministry of Electricity in Iraq, "expected that" Iraq will be provided electric power during the summer of 2020. "
He explained that "the Commission has similar plans to connect with other countries, as last April witnessed a roundtable meeting included a delegation of the Association with representatives from the Indian side, especially that there is great interest in projects linking with Asian countries, particularly India.
He said that "the Gulf Interconnection Authority has received a request to be a member of a special committee to manage the process of electricity linkage and energy markets in Asia," pointing out that "these projects will be implemented during the second half of this year."
Al-Ibraheem continued to "prepare the studies of the electrical connection with Jordan and Egypt to reach Europe, where the studies are still going on between all aspects. In addition, the Commission is now in the process of collecting information for preliminary studies linking with Ethiopia and Yemen, long studies that will take longer "He said.
He stressed that "there is a continuous work to develop the energy trade project between the GCC countries, where there is a major role played by the Interconnection Authority to reach bilateral agreements for the exchange of energy trade during the summer period, as several contracts have been awarded to exchange energy between some Gulf countries, "The demand for energy is expected to increase this year," he said, referring to the "steady increase in the volume of energy trade exchange over the past years."

The oil and energy parliamentary committee suspended on Wednesday concerns over the impact of supplying electricity to Iraqis if the Iran-US war took place.
"The oil and energy committee of the parliament hosted today Minister of Oil Thamir al-Ghadhban. The issue of equipping citizens with electricity and alternative energy from imported energy was discussed," said member of the committee Abdel-Amir al-Mayahi.
"The minister promised that there will be alternative energy in the event of an emergency in the region, and there is a lot of production capacity exists, but not used properly, and there is a contract concluded with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to import energy," the minister told us.
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Iran would face "enormous power" if it tried to do anything against US interests in the Middle East.
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